Telephone-receiving call center system

ABSTRACT

A call center system used for receiving incoming calls in accordance with the present information has a plurality of terminals, an incoming-call control apparatus and an exchange. Each of the terminals is accommodated by the exchange and includes a display unit as well as a telephone unit; an audio recording &amp; playback unit for recording voices of a conversation between an operator operating the terminal and a caller making an call in a conversation-voice recording file and for playing back voices from the conversation-voice recording file and a response-information-creating unit for creating a response to an incoming call. Further each of the terminals includes a halfway-saving &amp; saving unit for saving a halfway response being created in a halfway-response recording file and for saving a completed response in a response recording file; a saved-halfway-response-reading unit for reading out the halfway response from the halfway-response recording file; a saved-halfway-response-display unit for displaying a halfway response stored in the halfway-response recording file read out by the saved-halfway-response-reading unit on the display unit; and a status-notifying unit for reporting status of being able or unable to receive an incoming call to the incoming-call control apparatus.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/746,198filed on Dec. 26, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,333,601, which is adivisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/805,389 filed Mar. 13, 2001,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,254, and claims priority from Japanese PatentApplication 2000-326457 filed Oct. 26, 2000, the contents of which areherein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

In general, the present invention relates to a call center system forreceiving phone calls. More particularly, the present invention relatesto balanced distribution of loads to receive incoming call amongoperators working at the call center system.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, there has been increasing the number of enterpriseseach setting a call center system for receiving phone calls for, amongother purposes, improvement of services to give a fast response to aninquiry about a product and improvement of an efficiency to take up anorder. In such an environment, most of such enterprises each employ afixed number of operators for receiving incoming calls, the number ofwhich varies from day to day and even varies hourly in a day. A callcenter system basically comprises an exchange installed in a building,an ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) apparatus functioning as anincoming-call control unit and a plurality of clients (or terminals)each provided with a function used by an operator to have a voiceconversation with a customer making an inquiry about a product orplacing an order for a product. The clients are connected to a telephoneline by the exchange, which is also referred to as a local exchange. TheACD apparatus is an incoming-call control apparatus used for connectingan incoming call made by a customer to one of the clients in a state ofbeing able to receive an incoming call in rendering a service ofresponding to an inquiry or service of taking in an order. A clientconnected to the incoming call creates information on a database inresponse to the call after or during the call. If an incoming callcannot be responded due to the fact that all the clients are busy, theACD apparatus displays status of the waiting incoming calls. An operatoraware of the displayed status may suspend an operation to createinformation to be transmitted to a database, record only essentials ofthe information on a piece of paper and use the memo recorded on thepaper later in resumption of the suspended operation to complete theinformation. As an alternative, the newly incoming call is put in astate of waiting for an operator to become available after completion ofan operation to create information to be transmitted as a response.

However, this conventional call center system has the followingproblems. When the operator records essentials of pending information tobe transmitted as a response to the previous incoming call on a piece ofpaper due to a suspension of an operation to create the information inthe event of a newly incoming call unanswered because of the fact thatall the clients are busy, a customer making the call is inevitably putin a wait state. In this case, the operator may record the essentials ina hurry and, thus, the essentials are not recorded correctly. If theincorrect essentials are used later for completing the pendinginformation to be transmitted as a response to the previous incomingcall, the completed information is also wrong as well. If the newlyincoming call is put in a wait state, on the other hand, there is raiseda problem of a poor service inevitably putting a customer making thenewly incoming call in a wait state till completion of an ongoingoperation to create information to be transmitted as a response to theprevious incoming call and a poor service caused by an inability to givea fast response to a customer making this newly incoming call.

It is thus an object of the present invention addressing the problemsdescribed above to provide a call center system that is capable of fullysatisfying customers at a high performance wherein a fixed number ofoperators operating clients employed in the call center system iscapable of responding to incoming calls at the maximum of ability andthe operation can be carried out with a high degree of flexibility tokeep up with a fluctuating number of incoming calls arriving at the sametime.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provideda call center system used for receiving incoming calls and composed of aplurality of terminals; an incoming-call control apparatus for executingincoming-call control based on status of the terminals and for informingthe terminals of existence of waiting incoming calls; and an exchangefor informing the incoming-call control apparatus of the arrival of anincoming call from an external source such as a public network, whereinthe terminals are accommodated by the exchange and each comprise adisplay unit as well as a telephone unit; an audio recording & playbackmeans for recording voices of a conversation between an operatoroperating the terminal and a caller making a call in aconversation-voice recording file and for playing back voices from theconversation-voice recording file; a response-information-creating meansfor creating a response based on the contents of a conversation to anincoming call; a halfway-saving & saving means for saving a halfwayresponse being created in a halfway-response recording file and forsaving a completed response in a response recording file in accordancewith a command given by the operator; a saved-halfway-response-readingmeans for reading out the halfway-response recording file containing ahalfway response being created in accordance with a command given by theoperator; a saved-halfway-response-display means for displaying ahalfway response stored in the halfway-response recording file read outby the saved-halfway-response-reading means on the display unit; and astatus-notifying means for reporting status of being able or unable toreceive an incoming call to the incoming-call control apparatus inaccordance with a command given by the operator.

It is desirable to further provide each of the terminals with a commandmeans such as a mouse in the display unit; a waiting-call display meansfor displaying waiting status of an incoming call, which is reported bythe incoming-call control apparatus in case the incoming call cannot berouted to any of the terminals, on the display unit; and a halfwaysaving operation screen control means operating in accordance withselection of an item from a halfway saving operation screen by clickingthe command means as a request to save a halfway response in ahalfway-response recording file and selection of an item from thehalfway saving operation screen by clicking the command means as arequest to read out the halfway-response recording file.

It is also desirable to further provide the call center system with adatabase server for storing a response recording file used by any of theterminals for recording a response in a response-file-storing database;storing a halfway-response recording file used by any of the terminalsfor recording a halfway response in a halfway-response-file-storingdatabase; storing a conversation-voice recording file used by any of theterminals for recording the contents of a conversation in aconversation-voice-file-storing database; retrieving a halfway-responserecording file from the halfway-response-file-storing database and aconversation-voice recording file associated with the halfway-responserecording file from the conversation-voice file-storing-database at arequest made by any of the terminals for use in completion of thehalfway response stored in the halfway-response recording file; andretrieving a response recording file from the response-file-storingdatabase at a request made by any of the terminals in transmission ofthe response stored in the response recording file to a caller.

Any of the terminals is allowed to request the database server toretrieve a halfway-response recording file from thehalfway-response-file-storing database and a conversation-voicerecording file associated with the halfway-response recording file fromthe conversation-voice-file-storing database. The terminal uses thehalfway-response recording file and the conversation-voice recordingfile associated with the halfway-response recording file to complete thecreation of a halfway response recorded in the halfway-responserecording file.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention as well as the manner of realizing them will become moreapparent whereas the invention itself will be best understood from astudy of the following description and appended claims with reference toattached drawings showing some preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a call center systemimplemented by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an ACD apparatusemployed in the call center system shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the present invention's CPUemployed in the ACD apparatus shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a database serveremployed in the call center system shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the present invention's CPUemployed in the database server shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relation between a response andconversation-voice recording files;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of a client employed inthe call center system shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram showing the present invention's CPUemployed in the client shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a typical screen on a client shown in FIG.8;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a typical phone control operation screen;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a typical halfway saving operation screen;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a typical halfway-response list screen;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a typical conversation-voice recording fileoperation screen;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of incoming-call control;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of incoming-call control executed on a preferencebasis;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of incoming-call control not executed on apreference basis;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing typical operations carried out by anoperator; and

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of transfer processing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before preferred embodiments of the present invention are explained, theprinciple of the invention is described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing theprinciple of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a call centersystem comprises an exchange 2, a plurality of terminals 4#i where i=1to n accommodated by the exchange 2 and an incoming-call controlapparatus 6. Each of the terminals 4#i comprises a display unit 8#i, atelephone unit 10#i, an audio recording & playback means 12#i, aresponse-information-creating means 14#i, a halfway-saving & savingmeans 16#i, a saved-halfway-response-reading means 17#i, asaved-halfway-response-display means 18#i and a status-notifying means19#i. The exchange 2 informs the incoming-call control apparatus 6 ofthe arrival of an incoming call from an external source such as a publicnetwork. The incoming-call control apparatus 6 is monitoring thereceivable state of each terminal 4#i. If a terminal 4#i in a receivablestate is detected, the incoming-call control apparatus 6 requests theexchange 2 to route the incoming call. It should be noted that, if anincoming call is in a state of waiting for a terminal 4#i to becomeavailable to accept the incoming call due to the fact that all theterminals 4#i are busy, the terminals 4#i where i=1 to n are informed ofthis state. At the request made by the incoming-call control apparatus6, the exchange 2 forwards the incoming call to the terminal 4#i in areceivable state. As the incoming call arrives at the telephone unit10#i of the terminal 4#i, the operator of the terminal 4#i starts aconversation with the caller of the incoming call.

The voice recording & playback means 12#i records audio contents of theconversation between the operator and the caller into aconversation-voice recording file. In accordance with an input given bythe operator, the response-creating means 14#i creates a response basedon the contents of the conversation to the incoming call. As describedabove, if an incoming call is in a state of waiting for a terminal 4#ito become available to accept the incoming call, the status-notifyingmeans 19#i employed in each terminal 4#i is informed of this state. Onthe basis of the information on this state, the operator suspends thecreation of the response and operates the terminal 4#i to have thehalfway-saving & saving means 16#i store the halfway response beingcreated in a halfway-response recording file. The halfway-saving &saving means 16#i stores the halfway response being created in thehalfway-response recording file accordingly. In this way, the terminal4#i enters a receivable state, informing the incoming-call controlapparatus 6 of the receivable status. In this state, the incoming-callcontrol apparatus 6 is allowed to route the incoming call to theterminal 4#i.

At a request made by the operator, the saved-halfway-response readingmeans 17#i reads out the halfway-response recording file containing thehalfway response and a conversation-voice recording file associated withthe halfway-response recording file. The saved-halfway-response displaymeans 18#i displays the halfway response recorded in thehalfway-response recording file on the display unit 8#i. In accordancewith a command given by the operator, the voice recording & playbackmeans 12#i plays back the conversation-voice recording file. Inaccordance with an input by the operator, the response-creating means14#i completes the creation of the response based on the displayedresponse and the reproduced conversation. The halfway-saving & savingmeans 16#i stores the completed response in a response recording file.

In this way, when a plurality of incoming calls is in a state of waitingfor a terminal 4#i to accept the incoming calls, the operator of aterminal 4#i is capable of saving a halfway response being createdimmediately and receiving a next incoming call. Thus, the waiting timeof a next customer making a call is made shorter. In addition, theoperator is allowed to complete a halfway response saved in ahalfway-response recording file whenever the operator becomes available.As a result, a fixed number of operators is capable of receivingincoming calls at the maximum of ability and the call center system canthus be operated with a high degree of flexibility to keep up with afluctuating number of incoming calls arriving at the same time.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a call center systemimplemented by an embodiment of the present invention. A call centersystem is a telephone-call receiving system for receiving phone callsfor, among other purposes, rendering services to give a fast response toan inquiry about a product and to efficiently take up an order for aproduct. As shown in FIG. 2, the call center system comprises anexchange 24, a central control apparatus (CC) 30, an ACD apparatus 32, adatabase server 34, a plurality of clients 36#i where i=1, 2 and so onand a LAN 38. The exchange 24 comprises a trunk 26 for interfacing witha public or private network 22 and a plurality of line circuits (LCs)28#i each used for interfacing with one of the client 36#i. Inaccordance with control executed by the CC 30, the exchange 24 connectsa particular LC 28#i to the trunk 26 at which a phone call made atelephone set 20 through the network 22 and allows a telephoneconversation between a caller using the telephone set 20 and a client36#i connected to the particular LC 28#i. When the incoming call arrivesat the trunk 26, the CC 30 informs the ACD apparatus 32 of the arrivalof the incoming call and the telephone number of the telephone set 20.Then, the ACD apparatus 32 determines which client 36#i is to receivethe incoming call.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the ACD apparatus 32employed in the call center system shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3,the ACD apparatus 32 comprises a CPU 40, a memory 42, a display unit 44,a keyboard 46, a mouse 48, a hard disk 50 and a LAN controller 52. TheCPU 40 has the following functions:

(1) Catalog the names of operators pertaining to each ACD group into thehard disk 50. Usually, operators are grouped into a plurality of ACDgroups each assigned to a specific kind of rendered service of receivingtelephone calls arriving at the exchange 24. Typically, each kind ofservice is associated with a category of products made by an enterprise.It is needless to say that all operators may also pertain to a singlegroup.

(2) Receive a login user name from a client 36#i through the LANcontroller 52. A login user name is the name of an operator entered bythe operator to the client 36#i when the operator logs in at the client36#i. The CPU 40 includes information on the client 36#i in the ACDgroup cataloged in the hard disk 50, associating the information withthe login user name.

(3) Manage status of each client 36#i at which an operator logged in.Examples of the status of a client 36#i include working, idle, ringing,in a conversation and unattended. The working status is status of beingunable to receive an incoming call due to typically the fact that theclient 36#i is being used for creating a response. The idle status isstatus of being able to receive an incoming call. The ringing status isstatus of receiving an incoming call as evidenced by the ringer's beingactivated. The in-a-conversation status is status of being used by theoperator for a conversation with a caller. The unattended status isstatus of being unattended by the operator or status of the operator'sabsence from the client. It should be noted that the status of a client36#i may include the number of waiting calls assigned to the operatorlogged in to the client 36#i. This information is used for balancingdistribution of loads among the clients 36#i where i=1, 2 and so on.

(4) Execute preference-based control of incoming calls to be describedlater to request that the CC 30 routes an incoming call to a client 36#iused by a preferred operator when the CC 30 is informed of the arrivalof the incoming call at the trunk 26. The CPU 40 also displays anincoming call on all the clients 36#i where i=1, 2 and so on to informthe operators at the clients 36#i of the existence of the incoming callin case the incoming call is put in waiting status due to the fact thatthe clients 36#i pertaining to an ACD group associated with the trunk 26are in a state of being unable to receive incoming calls as evidenced bythe working status or the like. The display of the incoming call at aspecific client 36#i can be emphasized if the client 36#i is being usedby the most preferred operator to receive the incoming call.

(5) Make a list of idle clients 36#j along with the names of operatorsusing the clients 36#j and transfer the list to a client 36#i inresponse to a request made by the client 36#i for a list of availableoperators where j≠i.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the present invention's CPU40 employed in the ACD apparatus 32 shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4,the CPU 40 has an ACD-group control unit 60 including a preference-basedincoming-call control unit 62 with the following functions:

(1) Request the database server 34 to search a data base for an operatorresponding in the past to a caller of a phone call arriving at the trunk26 by using the telephone number of the caller as a search key.

(2) Form a judgment as to whether or not a client 36#i being used by theoperator responding in the past to the caller is available.

(i) If the client 36#i being used by the operator responding in the pastto the caller is available, execute control to route the incoming callto the client 36#i being used by the operator responding in the past tothe caller.

(ii) If the client 36#i being used by the operator responding in thepast to the caller is not available or if an operator responding in thepast to the caller is not found, on the other hand, executeincoming-call control so as to give a balanced distribution of loadsamong available clients 36#i pertaining to an ACD group for the trunk26. It should be noted that, if the client 36#i being used by theoperator responding in the past to the caller is not available, adisplay of the existence of a waiting incoming call at the client 36#imay be emphasized instead of routing the incoming call to another client36#j where j≠i even if the other client 36#j is available.

(iii) If all clients 36#i pertaining to an ACD group for the trunk 26are not available, request all the clients 36#i to display the existenceof a waiting incoming thereon. The display of the existence of a waitingincoming call at a specific client 36#i can be emphasized by typicallybeing put in a blinking state if the client 36#i is a client being usedby the operator responding in the past to the caller.

The memory 42 employed in the ACD apparatus 32 shown in FIG. 3 is usedas a main memory for operations carried out by the CPU 40. The displayunit 44 is a component used for displaying typically information of theACD group. The keyboard 46 and the mouse 48 are each an input unit forentering typically the name of an operator pertaining to the ACD group.The hard disk 50 is a memory used for storing information such as thenames of operators pertaining to the ACD group. The LAN controller 52 isa component for communicating with the CC 30, the database server 34 andthe clients 36#i where i=1, 2 and so on by way of the LAN 38. It shouldbe noted that the communication media is not limited to the LAN 38. Thatis to say, any communication means can be used as long as the means canbe used as communication media.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the database server 34employed in the call center system shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 5,the database server 34 comprises a CPU 70, a memory 72, a hard disk 74and a LAN controller 76.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the present invention's CPU70 employed in the database server 34 shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG.6, the CPU 70 comprises a client control unit 80, an operator managementunit 81, a response-history management unit 82, aresponse-file-storing-database management unit 84, avoice-file-storing-database management unit 86 and ahalfway-response-file-storing database management unit 88.

The operator management unit 81 searches a response-file-storingdatabase 90 for a response recording file corresponding to the telephonenumber of a caller at a request made by the ACD apparatus 32. Theoperator management unit 81 also acquires the name of an operatorresponding to the caller in the past and transmits the name to the ACDapparatus 32. The response-history management unit 82 searches theresponse-file-storing database 90 for a past response recording filerelated to a caller to with the telephone directory number of the callerused as a key in the search operation at a request made by a client 36#iand transmits the past response recording file to the client 36#i makingthe request. The response-file-storing-database management unit 84catalogs a completed response recording file received from a client 36#iin the response-file-storing database 90. A response recording file is afile for recording a response completed by the operator on the basis ofthe contents of a conversation with a caller. Thevoice-file-storing-database management unit 86 executes the followingfunctions:

(1) Catalog a conversation-voice recording file received from a client36#i in a voice-file storing database 92. A conversation-voice recordingfile is a file for recording the audio contents of a conversation with acaller. A conversation-voice recording file is associated with aresponse created by the operator on the basis of the audio contents of aconversation with a caller and recorded in a halfway-response recordingfile. A conversation-voice recording file read back from thevoice-file-storing database 92 and a halfway-response recording fileassociated with the conversation-voice recording file and read back froma halfway-response-file storing database 94 are used for completing aresponse recording file to be stored in the response-file-storingdatabase 90. For this reason, a link is required to associate aconversation-voice recording file with a halfway-response recordingfile.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relation between a response andconversation-voice recording files. As shown in FIG. 7, a response islinked to a conversation-voice recording file by a reception number,which is a number unique in the system. A reception number is assignedby a client 36#i to a response and used typically as a key foridentifying the response and a conversation-voice recording fileassociated with the response. Thus, a reception number assigned to aresponse serves as a link between the response and a conversation-voicerecording file associated with the response. It should be noted that,taking a telephone transfer to be described later into consideration,FIG. 7 shows deliberately a relation between a single response and aplurality of conversation-voice recording files.

(2) Read out a conversation-voice recording file linked to ahalfway-response recording file from the voice-file-storing database 92in accordance with a command received from thehalfway-response-file-storing-database management unit 88 and supply theconversation-voice recording file to a client 36#i.

The halfway-response-file-storing-database management unit 88 executesthe following functions:

(1) Catalog a halfway-response recording file received from a client36#i into the halfway-response-file-storing database 94. Ahalfway-response recording file is a file for recording a halfwayresponse being created by an operator on the basis of the contents of aconversation between the operator and a caller to which the response isto be transmitted eventually.

(2) Search the halfway-response-file-storing database 94 for halfwayresponses created by an operator using a client 36#i making a requestfor the search or for halfway responses created by all operators, make alist of such halfway responses and supply the list to the client 36#i. Alist of halfway responses is a list of names each used for identifying ahalfway response. A name on the list is typically a reception numberdescribed above.

(3) Read out a halfway-response recording file identified by a namespecified by a client 36#i from the halfway-response-file-storingdatabase 94 and supply the halfway-response recording file to the client36#i. The halfway-response recording file supplied to the client 36#i isdeleted from the halfway-response-file-storing database 94.

(4) Request the voice-file-storing-database management unit 86 totransmit a conversation-voice recording file associated with ahalfway-response recording file identified by a name specified by aclient 36#i to the client 36#i.

The memory 72 employed in the database server 34 shown in FIG. 5 is usedas a main memory for operations carried out by the CPU 70. The hard disk74 is a recording medium for storing the response-file-storing database90, the voice-file-storing database 92 and thehalfway-response-file-storing database 94. The LAN controller 76 is ameans used for communicating with the ACD apparatus 32 and the clients36#i where i=1, 2 and so on through the LAN 38.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of each client 36#iemployed in the call center system shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 8,a client 36#i comprises a telephone-set board 100#i, a head set 102#i, aCPU 104#i, a memory 106#i, a display unit 108#i, a keyboard 110#i, amouse 112#i, a hard disk 114#i and a LAN controller 116#i. Thetelephone-set board 100#i is a board for mounting a unit executingtelephone functions. The head set 102#i includes a speaker foroutputting a voice generated by the telephone-set board 100#i and asound generated by a ringer. The head set 102#i also has a mike forpicking up a voice of the operator and outputting the voice to thetelephone-set board 100#i. The mike is supported by mounting on the headportion of an operator.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram showing the present invention's CPU104#i employed in the client 36#i shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 9,the CPU 104#i comprises a telephone-operation control unit 120#i, avoice-recording control unit 122#i, a response-history control unit theresponse-history control unit 124#i, a conversation-input control unit126#i, a halfway-saving & saving control unit 128#i, a halfway-responsecontrol unit 130#i, a voice-recording-file-operation control unit 132#iand a transfer control unit 134#i.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a typical screen on the display unit 108#iemployed in a client 36#i. As shown in FIG. 10, the client screendisplayed on the display unit 108#i comprises a telephone controloperation screen 152 and a response screen 154. The telephone controloperation screen 152 is a screen used by the operator for giving acommand to the telephone-operation control unit 120#i. For example, thetelephone-operation control unit 120#i reports working, idle, ringing,in-a-conversation or unattended status of the client 36#i to the ACDapparatus 32 as requested by a click operation on a button displayed onthe telephone control operation screen 152. The telephone-operationcontrol unit 120#i also reports such status in a login operation. Theresponse screen 154 comprises a response history screen 156, aconversation input screen 158, an operator list screen 160, ahalfway-saving operation screen 162, a voice-recording-file-linkinformation screen 164 and a voice-recording-file-operation screen 168.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a typical phone control operation screen152 used by the operator for giving a command to the telephone-operationcontrol unit 120#i as described above. As shown in FIG. 11, thetelephone control operation screen 152 comprises a calling button 170, aanswering button 172, a disconnecting button 174, a working-statusbutton 176 and a transfer button 178, which can all be clicked by theoperator. When the calling button 170 is clicked, thetelephone-operation control unit 120#i issues an off-hook command to thetelephone-set board 100#i to allow a call to be made to another client36#j where j≠i or to the public or private network 22. When theanswering button 172 is clicked while the ringer is generating a soundto the head set 102#i, the telephone-operation control unit 120#i issuesan off-hook command to the telephone-set board 100#i to allow aconversation to be held with a caller. When the disconnecting button 174is clicked, the telephone-operation control unit 120#i issues an on-hookcommand to the telephone-set board 100#i. The working-status button 176is a button clicked by the operator to set the client 36#i in a state ofbeing unable to receive an incoming call. When the working-status button176 is clicked to start a work to create a response at the end of aconversation with a customer, the telephone-operation control unit 120#ireports the working status of the client 36#i to the ACD apparatus 32.The working-status button 176 may also clicked in order to set theclient 36#i in a state of being able to receive an incoming call uponcompletion of a login operation to the client 36#i, upon suspension of awork to create a response, upon completion of an operation to save ahalfway response or upon completion of a work to create a response. Inthis case, the telephone-operation control unit 120#i reports the idlestatus of the client 36#i to the ACD apparatus 32.

When the operator clicks the transfer button 178 after selecting one ofother operators on the operator list screen 160, the telephone-operationcontrol unit 120#i requests the telephone-set board 100#i to transfer anincoming call to the client 36#j used by the selected operator, whichcan be a supervisor.

The telephone control operation screen 152 also includes a waiting-calldisplay 180 displayed by the telephone-operation control unit 120#i toindicate that there is an incoming call put in a waiting state. Inparticular, if the operator using the client 36#i is an operatorpreferred for the waiting incoming call, the telephone-operation controlunit 120#i emphasizes the waiting-call display 180 by typically puttingthe waiting-call display 180 in a blinking state.

When the answering button 172 is clicked, the voice-recording controlunit 122#i shown in FIG. 9 requests the telephone-set board 100#i tostart an operation to record voices of a conversation into the hard disk114#i. When the disconnecting button 174 is clicked, on the other hand,the voice-recording control unit 122#i requests the telephone-set board100#i to end an operation to record voices of a conversation into thehard disk 114#i. When receiving the telephone number of a caller fromthe telephone-set board 100#i, the response-history control unit 124#iassigns a reception number to the telephone number and then requests thedatabase server 34 to transmit a response history indicated by thereception number assigned to the telephone number. Subsequently, theresponse-history control unit 124#i displays the response historyreceived from the database server 34 on the response history screen 156.The response history displayed on the response history screen 156 isused by the operator as a base for creating a proper response to thecaller. The conversation-input control unit 126#i controls an operationcarried out by the operator to create a response on the conversationinput screen 158 on the basis of the contents of a conversation betweenthe operator and a customer. The conversation input screen 158 is ascreen allowing an item selectable from a menu to be entered quickly andcorrectly. The halfway-saving operation screen 162 shown in FIG. 9 is ascreen used by the operator for giving a command to the halfway-saving &saving operation control unit 128#i and the halfway-response controlunit 130#i.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a typical halfway saving operation screen162. As shown in FIG. 12, the halfway-saving operation screen 162comprises a halfway-saving button 200, a saving button 202, ahalfway-response display button 204, all display button 206 and ahalfway-response list screen 208. When the halfway-saving button 200 isclicked, the halfway-saving & saving operation control unit 128#isupplies a conversation-voice recording file stored in the hard disk114#i, a halfway-response recording file being created by the operatorand a reception number to the database server 34. When the saving button202 is clicked, the halfway-saving & saving operation control unit 128#isupplies a conversation-voice recording file stored in the hard disk114#i, a response recording file completed by the operator and areception number to the database server 34. When the halfway-responsedisplay button 204 is clicked, the halfway-response control unit 130#itransmits the name of an operator using the client 36#i to the databaseserver 34, requesting the database server 34 to output a list ofreception numbers assigned to halfway responses to be completed by theoperator. Such a list is referred to simply as a halfway-response list.The halfway-response control unit 130#i then displays thehalfway-response list received from the database server 34 on thehalfway-response list screen 208.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a typical halfway-response list screen 208.As shown in FIG. 13, the halfway-response list screen 208 shows a listof halfway-response recording files remaining to be completed by theoperator and reception numbers each assigned one of the halfway-responserecording files. On the other hand, the voice-recording-file-linkinformation screen 164 shown in FIG. 10 displays halfway-responserecording files each indicated by a reception number shown in thehalfway-response list screen 208 and conversation-voice recording files,which are each created by the conversation-input control unit 126#i andlinked to one of the halfway-response recording files. When the operatorclicks a reception number associated with the name of the operator asshown in the halfway-response list screen 208, the halfway-responsecontrol unit 130#i requests the database server 34 to output ahalfway-response recording file indicated by the clicked receptionnumber and a conversation-voice recording file associated with thehalfway-response recording file as shown in thevoice-recording-file-link information screen 164. The halfway-responsecontrol unit 130#i then stores the halfway-response recording file andthe conversation-voice recording file received from the database server34 into the hard disk 114#i. When the all display button 206 is clicked,a list of halfway-response recording files created by all operators aredisplayed in the same format as the halfway-response list screen 208displayed by clicking the halfway-response display button 204 except fordisplaying a list associated with the operator or not.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a typical conversation-voice recording fileoperation screen 168 for operating the conversation-voice recordingfile. As shown in FIG. 14, the voice-recording-file operation screen 168displays a playback button 220, a fast-feed button 222 and a stop button224. When the playback button 220 is clicked, thevoice-recording-file-operation control unit 132#i requests thetelephone-set board 100#i to play back the conversation-voice recordingfile. When the fast-feed button 222 is clicked, thevoice-recording-file-operation control unit 132#i requests thetelephone-set board 100#i to play back the conversation-voice recordingfile at a high speed. When the stop button 224 is clicked, thevoice-recording-file-operation control unit 132#i requests thetelephone-set board 100#i to halt an operation to play back theconversation-voice recording file.

When the operator list screen 160 is clicked, the transfer control unit134#i requests the ACD apparatus 32 to transmit a list of names ofoperators to which a work to create a response recording file can betransferred. A list of such operator names received from the ACDapparatus 32 is displayed on the operator list screen 160. When the nameof an operator on the list is clicked, a halfway-response recordingfile, a conversation-voice recording file linked to the halfway-responserecording file and a reception number assigned to the halfway-responserecording file are transferred to a client 36#j used by the operator thename of which is clicked, where j≠i. The client 36#j stores thehalfway-response recording file and the conversation-voice recordingfile transferred from the client 36#i in the hard disk 114#j. In thisway, the client 36#j is capable of succeeding to the work to create aresponse.

The memory 106#i employed in the client 36#i shown in FIG. 8 is used asa main memory for operations carried out by the CPU 104#i. The displayunit 108#i is a display means for displaying a client screen. Thekeyboard 110#i and the mouse 112#i are each an input unit used typicallyin creation of a response recording file. The hard disk 114#i is amemory used in creation of a conversation-voice recording file and aresponse recording file. The LAN controller 116#i is a component forcommunicating with the ACD apparatus 32, the database server 34 andother clients 36#j where j≠i by way of the LAN 38.

The following description explains the operation of the call centersystem shown in FIG. 2.

(1) Operator Cataloging

When an operator logs in to a client 36#i by entering a name, the nameis transmitted to the ACD apparatus 32. The ACD apparatus 32 catalogsthe operator name and the client 36#i in an ACD group, setting theoperator in working status. When the working-status button 176 displayedon the telephone control operation screen 152 is clicked, the client36#i informs the ACD apparatus 32 of the clicking. Informed of theclicking, the ACD apparatus 32 sets the client 36#i in idle status.

(2) Control of Incoming Calls

When a customer presses buttons of the telephone set 20 to enter thetelephone number of the call center, a call to the trunk 26 of the callcenter system is made through the public or private network 22. The CC30 informs the ACD apparatus 32 of the arrival of the call at the trunk26 through the network 22 and the telephone number of the telephone set20. The ACD apparatus 32 identifies an ACD group from the trunk 26receiving the call and executes incoming-call control represented by aflowchart shown in FIG. 15 as follows. As shown in the figure, theflowchart begins with a step S2 at which the telephone number of thetelephone set 20 is received. At the next step S4, the database server34 is requested to output the customer's history information based onthe telephone number. The database server 34 searches theresponse-file-storing database 90 for history information correspondingto the telephone number. The database server 34 extracts the names ofoperators responding to the caller identified by the telephone number inthe past from the history information and transmits the operator namesto the ACD apparatus 32. At the next step S6, the ACD apparatus 32 formsa judgment as to whether or not the incoming call was made by a newcustomer. The judgment is based on the names of the operators receivedfrom the database server 34. If the incoming call was not made by a newcustomer, the flow of the control goes to a step S8. If the incomingcall was made by a new customer, on the other hand, the flow of thecontrol goes to a step S10. At the step S8, preference-basedincoming-call control to be described later is executed. At the stepS10, on the other hand, non-preference-based incoming-call control to bedescribed later is executed.

(a) Preference-Based Incoming-Call Control

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of incoming-call control executed on a preferencebasis at the step S8 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 15. The flowchartshown in FIG. 16 begins with a step S20 at which the name of an operatorresponding to the customer in the past is acquired. The flow of thecontrol then goes on to a step S22 to form a judgment as to whether ornot the operator has logged in. If the operator has logged in, the flowof the control goes on to a step S24 to form a judgment as to whether ornot the operator is in working status. If the operator has not loggedin, on the other hand, the flow of the control goes on to a step S36. Ifthe outcome of the judgment formed at the step S24 indicates that theoperator is not in working status, the flow of the control goes on to astep S26 at which the CC30 is requested to control the exchange 24 toroute the incoming call to a client 36#i used by the operator. As aresult, the operator who has responded to the customer in the past canreceive the incoming calls so that the efficiency of the service toprovide a response can be improved.

If the outcome of the judgment formed at the step S24 indicates that theoperator is in working status, on the other hand, the flow of thecontrol goes on to a step S28 to form a judgment as to whether or notall the operators are busy, that is, all the operators are in workingstatus or in-a-conversation status, being unable to receive the incomingcall. If all the operators are busy, the flow of the control goes on toa step S30. If not all the operators are busy, on the other hand, theflow of the control goes on to a step S34. At the step S30, a command isissued to emphasize a waiting-call display on a client 36#i used by theoperator responding to the customer in the past. The client 36#iemphasizes the waiting-call display 180 accordingly. At the next stepS32, a command is issued to display the waiting-call display 180 onclients 36#j used by the other operators in a deemphasized state. Theclients 36#j each display the waiting-call display 180 in a deemphasizedstate accordingly. Getting aware of the waiting-call display emphasizedat the step S30, the operator using the client 36#i realizes that thereis a waiting call for the operator, saving a halfway response recordingfile being created. In this way, the operator is capable of quicklyresponding to the waiting call. At the step S34, the incoming call isrouted to an available operator not in working status. If there is aplurality of available operators, the incoming call is routed to one ofthem selected on the basis of incoming-call counts computed in advance.That is to say, an available operator having a smallest number ofincoming calls serviced so far is selected so as to give a balanceddistribution of loads among the operators. It should be noted that,instead of routing an incoming call to another client 36#j in a state ofbeing able to receive a call where j≠i in case the operator using theclient 36#i is in working status as described above, a policy can be setto keep the waiting-call display 180 of the client 36#i in an emphasizedstate till the operator becomes available without regard to the statusof the other clients 36#j. At the step S36, the non-preference-basedincoming-call control described below is executed.

(b) Non-Preference-Based Incoming-Call Control

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of the non-preference-based incoming-call controlexecuted not on a preference basis at the step S10 of the flowchartshown in FIG. 15 and the step S36 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 16. Theflowchart shown in FIG. 17 begins with a step S40 to form a judgment asto whether or not all the operators are in working status. If all theoperators are in working status, the flow of the control goes on to astep S44. If not all the operators are in working status, on the otherhand, the flow of the control goes on to a step S42. At the step S42,the incoming call is routed to an available operator not in workingstatus. The operator is selected so as to produce a balanceddistribution of loads among the operators as described above. At thenext step S44, a command is issued to display the waiting-call display180 on each of clients 36#i used by the other operators in adeemphasized state where i=1, 2 and so on. The clients 36#i each displaythe waiting-call display 180 in a deemphasized state accordingly.

(3) Operator Operation

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing typical operations carried out by anoperator. As shown in the figure, the flowchart begins with a step S50at which the operator clicks the response button 172 in response to anincoming call as evidenced by a sound output by the ringer to the headset 102#i. After assigning a reception number to the incoming call, theclient 36#i requests the database server 34 to output an informationhistory associated with the telephone number of the caller. Typically,significant digits of the reception number are the number of the client36#i or the ID of the operator while insignificant digits thereof are asequence number assigned to the incoming call. The database server 34searches the response-file-storing database 90 for an informationhistory associated with the telephone number. If such an informationhistory is found, the information history is transmitted to the client36#i. The client 36#i displays the information history on the responsehistory screen 156. In this way, the operator is capable of receivingthe incoming call while looking at the displayed information history. Asa result, the service rendered by the call center system can beimproved.

At the next step S52, the operator starts a conversation with thecustomer. At the same time, the client 36#i commences an operation torecord contents of the conversation into the hard disk 114#i. Thecontents of the conversation can be an inquiry about a product, acomplaint, an order for a product or any other matters. At the next stepS54, the operator begins an operation to enter data based on thecontents of the conversation to the conversation input screen 158 of theresponse screen 154. At the next step S56, the operator makes a decisionas to whether or not to transfer the incoming call. If the incoming callis to be transferred, the flow of the operations goes on to a step S66at which the call is transferred to a person well familiar with aresponse to the caller. An example of such a person is a supervisor. Ifthe incoming call is not to be transferred, on the other hand, the flowof the operations goes on to a step S58 at which the operator completesthe conversation with the customer and then clicks the disconnectingbutton 174. When the disconnecting button 174 is clicked, an on-hookcommand is issued in the client 36#i to stop the operation to record avoice into the hard disk 114#i. At the next step S60, the operatorenters essentials of the conversation contents to the conversation inputscreen 158 of the response screen 154. Then, the flow of the operationsgoes on to a step S62 to form a judgment as to whether or not a newincoming call is displayed on the waiting-call display 180 during thework to enter the essentials. If no new incoming call is displayed, theflow of the operations goes on to a step S64. If a new incoming call isdisplayed, on the other hand, the flow of the operations goes on to astep S70. If the display of the new incoming call is emphasized inparticular, the operator makes a decision to immediately proceed to thework of the step S70.

At the step S64, the operator continues the operation to enteressentials of the conversation contents to the conversation input screen158 of the response screen 154. As the operation to enter the essentialsis completed, the saving button 202 is clicked to request the client36#i to supply a response recording file, a conversation-voice recordingfile and the reception number to the database server 34. The databaseserver 34 stores the response recording file and the conversation-voicerecording file in the response-file-storing database 90 and thevoice-file-storing database 92 respectively, linking the responserecording file to the conversation-voice recording file by means of thereception number. At the next step S68, a next response work isdetermined. In the first place, the operator is ready to respond to anext call by clicking the working-status button 176. In this case, theflow of the operations goes back to the step S50. As a firstalternative, a logoff is desired to terminate the operations to quit thework or have a break time. In this case, the client 36#i used by theoperator is deleted from a list in the ACD group. As a secondalternative, the operator wants the database server 34 to output a listof halfway-response files created by the operator previously by clickingthe halfway-response display button 204. As a third alternative, theoperator wants the database server 34 to output a list ofhalfway-response files created by all operators by clicking the alldisplay button 206. In the case of the second and third alternatives,the database server 34 searches the halfway-response-file-storingdatabase 94 for the desired halfway-response files, creates a list ofsuch files and transmits the list to the client 36#i. The client 36#idisplays the list on the halfway-response list screen 208. Then, theflow of the operations go on to the step S74.

At the step S70, the operator terminates the operation to enter thecontents of the conversation to the response screen 154 and clicks thehalfway-saving button 200. The client 36#i reads out theconversation-voice recording file and the halfway-response recordingfile from the hard disk 114#i, transmitting the conversation-voicerecording file, the halfway-response recording file and the receptionnumber to the database server 34. The database server 34 stores thehalfway-response recording file and the conversation-voice recordingfile in the halfway-response-file-storing database 94 and thevoice-file-storing database 92 respectively, linking the responserecording file to the halfway-response recording file by means of thereception number. At the next step S72, the operator clicks theworking-status button 176 to put the client 36#i in idle state. That isto say, the client 36#i is put in available status appearing to the ACDapparatus 32 as status of being able to receive a next call.

As all pending incoming calls are routed to available clients 36#i wherei=1, 2 and so on as described above, the ACD apparatus 32 requests eachof the clients 36#i to clear the waiting-call display 180. Then, theclients 36#i each clear the waiting-call display 180 accordingly.

At the step S74, the operator clicks one of reception numbers displayedon the halfway-response list screen 208. The client 36#i requests thedatabase server 34 to output a halfway-response recording file indicatedby the clicked reception number. The database server 34 reads out thehalfway-response recording file from the halfway-response-file-storingdatabase 94 and transmits the file to the client 36#i. The client 36#istores the halfway-response recording file in the hard disk 114#i. Then,a response is fetched from the halfway-response recording file andsupplied to the conversation input screen 158. At the next step S76, theclient 36#i requests the database server 34 to output aconversation-voice recording file indicated by the reception numberclicked at the step S74. The database server 34 reads out theconversation-voice recording file from the voice-file-storing database92 and transmits the file to the client 36#i. The client 36#i stores theconversation-voice recording file in the hard disk 114#i. At the nextstep S78, the operator clicks the playback button 220, the fast-feedbutton 222 or the stop button 224 to play back the conversation-voicerecording file and entering items not entered yet so far to theconversation input screen 158. In this way, when there is no waitingincoming call, a response recording file based on a halfway-responserecording file can be completed by listening to a conversation-voicerecording file associated with the halfway-response recording file. Inaddition, a response recording file based on a halfway-responserecording file created by another operator can be produced to improvethe work efficiency. Then, the flow of the operations go back to thestep S62.

At the step S66, the following transfer processing is carried out. FIG.19 shows a flowchart representing the transfer processing. An operatormay desire to transfer an incoming call from a customer to a supervisoror the like. In this case, the operator needs to use the transfer button178 and the operator list screen 160. First of all, when the operatorlist screen 160 is clicked, the client 36#i requests the ACD apparatus32 to provide the client 36#i with the names of operators using clients36#j to which an incoming call can be transferred where j≠i. The ACDapparatus 32 searches an ACD group to which the operator using theclient 36#i pertains for names of operators using such clients 36#j. TheACD apparatus 32 makes a list of such operator names and transmits thelist to the client 36#i. The client 36#i displays the list received fromthe ACD apparatus 32 on the operator list screen 160.

At the first step S80 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 19, the operatorselects the name of another operator on the list displayed on theoperator list screen 160. The other operator, the name of which isselected, is an operator to which an incoming call is to be transferred.The client 36#i transfers an incoming call to a client 36#j used by theother operator through the extension line. The client 36#j starts anoperation to record the contents of a conversation with a customer, theincoming call from which is transferred. At the next step S82, theclient 36#i transfers a halfway-response recording file and a receptionnumber to the client 36#j. The client 36#j stores the halfway-responserecording file received from the client 36#i in thehalfway-response-file-storing database 94. At the next step S84, theclient 36#i transfers a conversation-voice recording file and thereception number to the client 36#j. The client 36#j stores theconversation-voice recording file received from the client 36#i in thevoice-file-storing database 92.

The client 36#j displays the contents of the halfway-response recordingfile on the conversation input screen 158. The operator of the client36#j succeeds to the work of creating the halfway response to thecustomer and completes the halfway-response recording file. The operatorof the client 36#j may be a supervisor or the like well familiar withthe response. In this way, the efficiency of the service to provide aresponse can be improved. At that time, a response recording file may becreated, being linked to a plurality of conversation-voice recordingfiles by means of a reception number as shown in FIG. 7. Thus, even if anewly incoming call is put in a waiting state after a preceding call hasbeen transferred as described above, the response recording file beingcreated can be saved as a halfway-response recording file linked to aplurality of conversation-voice recording files so that thehalfway-response recording file can be completed later by listening tothe conversation-voice recording files. In this way, even a fixed numberof operators is capable of keeping up with a large fluctuation of thenumber of incoming calls with a high degree of efficiency. In addition,by playing back a conversation-voice recording file containing the audiocontents of a conversation, an operator is capable of reflecting voicesof a customer in a response with a high degree of efficiency incomparison with the conventional call center system in which laterprocessing to enter and add data is based on a memo. Moreover, a fastresponse can be given even in the case of a waiting incoming call,making it possible to provide an operation that fully satisfiescustomers and entails only short wait times of customers. As describedabove, according to the present invention, a fixed number of operatorsoperating clients employed in the call center system is capable ofresponding to incoming calls at the maximum of ability and the operationcan be carried out with a high degree of flexibility to keep up with afluctuating number of incoming calls arriving at the same time. As aresult, it is possible to construct and provide a call center systemthat is capable of fully satisfying customers at a high performance.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to thedetails of the preferred embodiments described above. The scope of thepresent invention is defined by the following appended claims, and allchanges and modifications falling within the scope of the claims aretherefore to be embraced by the invention.

1. A method comprising: recording a voice of a conversation between anoperator and a user into a first file; storing a relationship betweenthe first file and a second file including information that has beeninputted based on the conversation after recording of the voice ofanother call has been completed; and writing information of theconversation contents to be entered into a database based on theinformation included in the second file and played-back voice by playingback the first file after recording of the voice of the another call hasbeen completed, wherein said information that has been inputted based onthe conversation is halfway-response information; displaying saidhalfway-response information stored in said second file; and playingback voice stored in said first file corresponding to said second filewhere said halfway-response information is stored based on therelationship between said second file and said first file.